Rabotnichki celebrated over Vardar in the Derby of Skopje, important win for Pelister who beat Sileks, wins for Renova and Shkupi as well, while Akademija Pandev played a draw with champions Shkendija.
photo by FK Vardar: Igor Krmar tackles Besar Iseni
Vardar and Rabotnichki played the 83rd Old Skopje Derby. Both teams played an open game with many scoring chances but keepers Igor Aleksovski and Daniel Bozhinovski proved their class with some great saves.
The winning goal came some ten minutes into the second half when Viktor Angelov first dribbled past Cameroonian international Bitang and fired a great shot that ended in the upper right angle leaving Aleksovski unable to do anything. Later Vardar on several occasions tried to equalize but simply couldn’t beat Bozhinovski who had his day.
This season Rabotnichki is far better than its local rivals. They celebrated in three of the four matches with the fourth being a Vardar win. Today’s win is the 31st for Rabotnichki who is now only one win behind Vardar in the total encounters that includes all official matches since the first back in 1951.
National Arena Philip II of Macedon in Skopje
Vardar – Rabotnichki 0:1 (0:0)
Goals: 56′ Viktor Angelov
Referee: Dimitar Mechkarovski (Skopje)
Very important win for Pelister over Sileks. The Bitola based team with this three points is back in battle for avoiding relegation with now just a point behind Pobeda.
Pod Tumbe Кafe stadium in Bitola
Pelister – Sileks 2:1 (1:1)
Goals: 16′ Borche Manevski, 52′ Blagojche Konjarski – 30′ Antonio Bujchevski
Referee: Marjan Gocevski (Strumica)
Renova broke Skopje’s defense in the last twenty minutes of the match. With this three points the Gypsums are now very close to securing a first league place for next season while Skopje is slowly losing its breath and going towards the second league.
Gradski stadium in Tetovo
Renova – Skopje 2:0 (0:0)
Goals: 71′ Vlatko Stojanovski, 77′ Stefan Kostov
Referee: Marjan Eckoski (Ohrid)
Like Renova, Shkupi also made a huge step towards escaping relegation. They defeated direct rivals Pobeda with all the goals being scored in the last half an hour.
Chair stadium in Skopje
Shkupi – Pobeda 3:1 (0:0)
Goals: 63′ Alen Jasharoski, 76′ Emre Can, 84′ Bazhe Ilijoski – 87′ Filip Najdovski
Referee: Josip Barton (Skopje)
Champions Shkjendija visited Akademija Pandev and announced a new win with a 2:0 lead after twenty minutes of play. The home side never gave up and scored twice after the break to win a point, important in the battle for avoiding relegation.
Kukush stadium in Turnovo
Akademija Pandev – Shkendija 2:2 (0:2)
Goals: 53′ Zoran Baldovaliev, 64′ (pen) Jani Atanasov – 16′ Stênio Júnior, 19′ Besart Ibraimi
Referee: Igor Stojchevski (Skopje)
1.MFL 2017/18
| Pos | Club | Pts | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Shkëndija | 91 | 36 | 29 | 4 | 3 | 101 | 27 | 74 |
| 2 |  Vardar | 56 | 36 | 16 | 8 | 12 | 53 | 41 | 12 |
| 3 |  Rabotnichki | 52 | 36 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 50 | 43 | 7 |
| 4 |  Shkupi | 51 | 36 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 51 | 46 | 5 |
| 5 |  Sileks | 50 | 36 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 30 | 37 | -7 |
| 6 |  Akademija Pandev | 42 | 36 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 43 | 47 | -4 |
| 7 |  Renova | 41 | 36 | 10 | 11 | 15 | 36 | 53 | -17 |
| 8 |  Pobeda (2010) | 38 | 36 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 36 | 56 | -20 |
| 9 |  Skopje | 35 | 36 | 7 | 14 | 15 | 24 | 43 | -19 |
| 10 |  Pelister | 34 | 36 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 37 | 68 | -31 |